The Trail Blazers opened the NBA season in Los Angeles a year ago by serving as a bug on Kobe Bryant's windshield.

The Lakers raised their Western Conference championship banner that day. They put on a pre-game show that hammered the theme: "This is our time." And then, they pummeled the Blazers and sent Greg Oden to the locker room early in what ended up a sobering day.

So yeah. Some kind of wonderful to see the Rockets coming to Portland on opening night this season, isn't it?

A rematch of the first-round playoff series. Another return to Portland for Aaron Brooks and Rick Adelman. I get it. You get it. The league schedule-makers were doing their best to set up something you'd salivate for.

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It ends up a great matchup at home for a franchise that probably had a break coming this summer.

Ron Artest is gone to Los Angeles. Yao Ming is out. But I don't think the Blazers have forgotten the awful scene at the Toyota Center as last season ticked to a close in what was a frustrating series.

Rockets fans turned into a mob. They booed. They jeered. They fought each other, and threw liquids at Blazers executives. On the court, Houston pushed, and shoved, and proved it was too physical, and too experienced, for Portland.

After the final game of the season, Steve Blake sat in the Blazers locker room staring at a wall. Rudy Fernandez dressed quickly and shook his head. Brandon Roy stayed in the shower long after most of his teammates were gone.

There was tension in that room.

Which is only to say, sorry Rockets, but whoever opened the season against the Blazers is probably going to get a fair share of that frustration.

I love the opening opponent. I love that the Blazers start at home. I love that Portland's first extended road trip features Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, Charlotte and Atlanta and not the row of perennial playoff winners from last year.

Remember that grind?

Last season, the Blazers were the second-youngest team in the league, but played the toughest opening month in NBA history. It was tense, and there was no margin for error. And maybe that helped a young team grow.

This year, the pressure is really on. Because Portland has a favorable early schedule, and lots of talent, and it won 54 games in the regular season a year ago. Which is only to say the franchise has an opportunity to build a strong start, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the Blazers holding the best record in the West on Thanksgiving Day.

Would you?

We've talked a lot this summer about the organization's failure to get things done. But on Tuesday, as you looked at the team's cozy schedule and realized that Brandon Roy and the team were on the same page when it came to his contract negotiations, you couldn't help but feel optimistic.

A source close to the Roy negotiations told me on Tuesday that the two-time All-Star was eager to get the deal done. And that the Blazers were also on board, and wanting to make the deal official.

By 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday the sides had a verbal agreement. And the fingers of Blazers fans that were running down the schedule earlier in the day, suddenly started skipping.

The Blazers aren't perfect.

They have a question at small forward. Nobody knows who the starting center will be. There's still some strife in the front office, now and then. But they have a favorable schedule, and a star on board, and suddenly, this is an organization providing us something special today.